Devon

Healthcare commissioners seeks public opinion

NHS HEALTHCARE commissioners in Devon want to hear from the public after they published a proposed framework to ensure services are right for the future.

The publication of the report, 'Integrated, personal and sustainable; community services for the 21st century' comes after 12-months of discussions with public, clinical and professional communities about what patients really need.

It was produced by NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG) and offers proposals to change the way community hospitals, community nursing and urgent care services are delivered - to continue to improve quality for patients and against a backdrop of rising demand, demographic change and economic austerity.

The framework is based upon six recurrent themes from discussions with the public and other stakeholders, namely that future community services should: Help people to stay well Move towards prevention, self management and early help Integrate care Coordinate and integrate care to remove organisational barriers Personalise support Give people more choice and control over areas such as personal health budgets Coordinate care pathways Get the patient flows right and include responses to crises and ongoing care Think carer, think family Create mainstream services that are much more 'carer aware'

Home as the first choice Greater emphasis on more personalised and responsive care packages at home.

Dr David Jenner said: “GPs have been commissioning local health services since this time last year. We have listened local people and believe we can continue to improve services for patients, design services to meet health needs and improve quality too.

“We've listened members of the public, GPs, and other important stakeholders before putting pen to paper on the draft strategic framework and now we want to test this with others.

“There is the potential to really address the challenges of the 21st century - and to make every penny count so we can achieve integrated, personal and sustainable services for our patients, friends and loved ones in future.”